Jean-Paul Belmondo was born  on 9 April 1933 in  Neuilly-sur Seine (France). He is the son of the well-know French sculptor, Paul Belmondo.

Jean-Paul is very fond of sports: boxing, football, cycling, sports car...). At school, he was a goalkeeper. Later, he discovered he had a passion for the boxing. He was practicing as an amateur boxeur. And finally, he discovered the actor’s profession.

In 1951, he decided to enter Paris Conservatoiry but he failed. He took a second examination in January 52, failed again and was finally admitted in october of the same year.

One of this teacher, Pierre Dux,  told him one day that with his head he’ll never take a woman in his arms because it would be credible.

One day in a competitive examination, Belmondo played “Mon amour et Piao”. The audience acclaimed him but the member of the jury wasn’t happy because the audience laughed too much and the court usher (audiencier) was obliged to calm down the public. Belmondo was cross and wanted to leave but his friends carried him on their shoulder high on the stage and when Jean-Paul saw the jury he gave him the finger.

Then, Jean-Paul Belmondo acted in a few plays before inaugurating his acting career with various provincial theatrical productions. He made his screen debut in “Les copains du dimanches” (1956).  In 1957, Belmondo and another star-to-be, Alain Delon, made their joint screen debut as juvenile delinquents in Sois Belle et Tais-Toi.Jean-Paul became part of cinema history with his performance as Michel Poiccard, the antihero of Jean-Luc Godard's groundbreaking New Wave feature "Breathless” (1959).Belmondo spent the early 1960s playing charismatic, self-destructive lowlifes in such films as “Pierrot le fou” (1965). "Pierrot Le Fou", in which he portrayed a novelist writing an autobiographical tragedy, firmed his star status, as did his role of a chronic thief in "Le Voleur" (1966).

Jean-Paul played with the greatest producers : Philippe De Broca "That Man From Rio" (1963), Godard "Pierrot Le Fou" (1965), Louis Malle“The Thief” (1966) Francois Truffaut "Mississippi Mermaid" (1968) and Jacques Deray "Borsalino" (1969), Claude Chabrol “Itinerary of a Spoiled Child” (1988)...

Because of the cinema, Jean-Paul Belmondo has failed to do in the theatre since 1959. In 1987, he came back on the stage with “Kean” (Jean-Paul Sartre).

Now, he devotes as much time to the theatre as to the cinema.